EP-B-0 819 381 discloses a method and apparatus whereby poultry that is transported to the slaughter house is first stunned, then suspended by the legs, and conveyed further down the line for exsanguination, de-feathering, decapitating, visual inspection of the outside, weight determination, evisceration and veterinary inspection of the poultry carcass and viscera before it gets cooled, portioned, and refrigerated. The determination of whether or not poultry has arrived at the slaughter house dead or alive is mentioned in EP-B-0 819 381 as an example in a process which is predominantly concerned with providing a completely, or almost completely automatic performance of inspection tasks. When used for determining whether the poultry was dead or alive on arrival, EP-B-0 819 381 teaches to use temperature measurements for that purpose.
EP 2 534 953 relates to an improved method and system for determining whether the poultry was dead or alive on arrival at the slaughterhouse, also making use of temperature measurements but then at very specific locations.
Current legislation in certain countries on the processing of slaughtered poultry requires that only healthy, alive poultry may be hung in the slaughter line. As is mentioned in the preamble the poultry is suspended by the legs after first being stunned. This makes it difficult to determine whether the poultry was DOA (dead on arrival) or merely stunned, since in both cases the poultry doesn't move. The problem is even more prone in situations that the poultry died shortly before arriving at the slaughterhouse since then rigor mortis has not yet occurred, and the personnel which hangs the birds cannot identify the difference between a stunned bird or a genuine DOA bird.